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That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello, all, this is Eric, and welcome to another episode of the Most Notorious podcast.

Hope you are enjoying the final weeks of summer.

My guest today I am very pleased to announce is M.F. Gross.

He is a former financial writer and trader-turned history buff

and true crime detective. He spent a year investigating the forgotten 1949 Crystal Beach

murder that serves as the focus of our interview today. The book he is here to talk about is called

Madman, the incredible true story of John Kelvin Rastus Russell, the heinous crime and

sensational manhunt that terrified Central Florida in 1949. Thank you for joining me today, and I am looking forward to chatting

with you about your book. My pleasure, Eric, glad to be here. So do you remember when you

first came across the story? How did it go from idea to book form? Well, Eric, it's an interesting story. I happen to live in

Crystal Beach, Florida for 12 years. And during that time, it was probably about 2017, I picked up a book

that was written by a lot of the, it had a chapter from each local that

lived there.

There was a lot of older people that contributed to this book that told stories about

the old days in Crystal Beach.

And a lot of it was about growing up in the 40s and 50s and all the things they used to do there

...